Glucose, Glucagon and Diabetes Flashcards
what is glucose stored as?
glycogen
where are the 2 main sites for glucose storage?
muscle and liver
what is glucose used for in cells?
for metabolism/respiration - it is metabolised to give ATP for energy and H2O, CO2
What is the normal circulating blood glucose concentration?
~5mM (no matter how hungry you feel) as the glycogen will be broken down during times of low glucose to replace those used.
what hormone helps with the storage/uptake of glucose from the blood?
insulin
what hormone helps to release glucose from the stored tissue back into the blood?
glucagon
where are insulin and glucagon released from?
The Islets of Langerhans in the pancreas
- What are the 3 main cell types in the islet of langerhan?
- What hormones do they release?
- α cells – produce glucagon
- β cells – produce insulin
- γ cells – produce somatostatin
How is insulin sythesised?
- Made as a polypeptide in the beta cells
- The polypeptide chan is processed in the golgi to give pro-insulin which is biologically inactive
- Pro-insulin is activated by prohormone convertase 1 and 2 which removes 33 amino acids. These 33 amino acids make the C chain.
- Now we are left with the A and B chains with 30 and 21 amino acids respectively.
- The A and B chains are joined by disulfide bridges forming the insulin
what is stored in the secretory granules of the beta cells?
the insulin along with some pro-insulin and c-peptide (the C-chain)
what happens in the 1st phase of insulin secretion?
elevated blood glucose levels causes stored insulin to be released from the secretory granules in the beta cells
what happens in the 2nd phase of insulin secretion?
Synthesis of new insulin and then it’s released in elevated glucose levels
what enzyme degrades insulin and where?
degraded by insulinase mainly in the liver but also in the muscle and kidneys
what is the half-life of insulin?
6minutes so its effects on tissues are rapidly reversible
how does glucose enter the beta-cells?
via the GLUT2 transporter system from the blood into the beta cell
what determines the ATP concentration in the beta cells?
the concentration of glucose in the blood as that determines the amount of glucose that enters the beta-cell there determines how much glucose is metabolised to ATP.
Explain how glucose, K+ channels, and Ca2+ channels play a role in insulin secretion?
- Glucose enters beta-cell via GLUT2 transporter
- High glucose levels cause ATP levels to rise in the beta cell
- The K+ channels are ATP sensitive so a high ATP conc closes the K+ channel so K+ conc increases as it can’t leave the cell.
- This causes depolarisation of the membrane of the cell.
- The Ca2+ channels are then opened due to the depolarisation and Ca2+ enters
- this results in the release of insulin from the beta cells
why is the liver the major site for glucose storage?
- Once insulin is made by the pancreas, it i first drained into the hepatic portal vein therefore the liver is the first organ exposed to insulin
- The glucose from the gut is also transported to the liver via the portal circulation
…..In this way, the insulin makes the liver store the glucose.
what is the insulin receptor like on the target cells?
-dimeric with an alpha-subunit and a beta-subunit.
what happens when insulin binds to the alpha-subunit?
- it promotes dimerization and activation of the receptor
2. Once the receptors dimerise, then the 2 subunits phosphorylate each other at multiple tyrosine residues
Explain the process of insulin receptor signalling?
- Insulin binding causes receptor dimerisation/activation
- The 2 subunits phosphorylate one-another to become active
- Active receptors phosphorylate IRS-1
- IRS-1 activates PI3K
- PI3K stimulates cellular response to the insulin
what type of glucose transporter is found in the liver cells?
GLUT4
Where are GLUT4 transporters found in unstimulated cells of the liver?
in the intracellular membrane vesicles and not in the plasma membrane
what is activated after PI3K in liver cells for insulin sensitivity?
- The PI3K activates PKB
- This evokes the translocation of the GLUT4 to the plasma membrane
- This therefore allows glucose uptake into the hepatocyte
How does glycogen synthesis occur?
- When GSK is active, the glycogen synthaseA is inactive, which prevents glycogen synthesis
- The GSK is inhibited by the PKB, which is activated by insulin. This therefore prevents glycogen synthaseA inhibition
- Therefore glycogen synthaseA is active and glycogen can be synthesised.
what happens when glycogen reserves in the liver are full and theres no more space to store glucose as glycogen?
the glucose is still able to enter the liver via the GLUT4 transporters, however, they are then metabolised into fatty acids which are released into the circulation and stored as fat eventually
what is the main source for cellular metabolism (respiration/ATP production) in the absence of insulin?
free-fatty acids
so why are people with type one diabetes likely to lose weight?
- in the absence of insulin, the body is forced to use free-fatty acids (from fat) for respiration/energy.
- however, in the presence of insulin, glucose is able to be taken up into cells to be used for energy.
- therefore the free-fatty acids aren’t being used so they can be stored as fat.
where does the CNS get its energy from?
- CNS cells (the brain) can take up glucose without the need for insulin to be present.
- this means it doesn’t metabolise fatty acids hence no lactic build-up in the brain
how are fatty acids released from adipoctyte cells/tissue?
- Glucose does not enter the cell due to a lack of insulin
- This causes the hormone-sensitive lipase to breakdown the lipid molecule into 3 free fatty-acid chains and 1 glycerol molecule
- The fatty acids are then released to fuel metabolic processes.